Fallen From Grace
by Sherlock's Hat
Summary: Olivia-Grace was an angel fallen from grace, ironic isn't it? Nick Fury recruits her to become apart of the new team called the Avengers Initiative. Along with IronMan, Captain America, The Hulk, Black Widow and Thor - Olivia Grace tries to rid the world of Loki's evil plans.
1. Chapter 1

Two years ago…

She believed that everyone was put on Earth for a reason, and you had to find why you were there to fulfil your life. Olivia Grace was a disgrace. To her family and to Earth. She didn't fulfil her destiny and so was banished from everything she knew. Olivia Grace was a fallen angel, ironically considering her name, she was fallen from grace. She was confused by Earth life. How people now interacted through screens and not through human contact.

Olivia Grace then became the centre of all news throughout the world. They found her lying; face down in the desert ground. A pair of large, startling white wings sprouting from her back, with confusion from the entire fall. Not remembering anything until she open her eyes, squinting at the bright Earth sun. She was hauled upwards by officers in uniform, taking to a secure base. Injected with a blue liquid and subsequently knocked cold.

When she first woke up she was in a plain white room, strapped to a table. "Ah. You're awake." A man had emerged from the shadows where he'd been watching her. "I'm Phil Coulson and you have to tell me where you've come from." Phil Coulson had watched as the golden haired beauty was plucked from the ground and carted off to the nearest S.H.I.E.L.D base. Olivia Grace blinked her long dark eyelashes at Coulson, her eyes skirting along the room. Phil watched the girl; the innocence of the new-comer was almost dripping off her.

A sly smirk then dropped onto her face, the innocence gone. "I can't Mr Coulson." She purred. "Its trade secrets you see and I'll be in so much trouble for letting you in only my dark, dirty secret."

Phil Coulson didn't flinch. "Ms Grace you will be here until you tell us where you come from and why you're here. I have got all the time in the world-"

"So do I." Olivia smirked adjusting herself on the metal slab. "You see I have all the time in the world _Phillip_." She looked down at the restrains and pouted before she looked up at Phil Coulson. "Be a lamb and undo these restraints?"

"You know the answer to the one already." Coulson replied, simply crossing her arms. Olivia's smile dropped and she scowled at Coulson, her hands twitching. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and a dark smog rose through the floor.

"Undo these restraints." Olivia hissed, her eyes rolled forward again, they were now pitch black. "NOW." Her hand shot out and Phil Coulson stumbled forward, an unknown presence pushing him towards the table.

"Ms Grace." A voice overhear boomed. "I insist you let my colleague go or I will have to take serious action."

Coulson stumbled forward slightly at the relief of the added pressure being removed. He straightened his suit and with one more glance at the fallen phenomenon he left through the concealed door behind him. "See you on the flip side Coulson." Olivia yelled rolling her eyes which had returned to the crystal clear blue. Her parents had been ashamed when she was banished down to live on Earth with the mortals. Her mother had cried while her father had stonily looked on, his arm wrapped around his inconsolable wife. Olivia Grace had bowed lowly to her ruler before she was clamped in chains and forced away from everything she knew. Olivia Grace was special. She was born unlike the other children in her class and it haunted her parents. They told her to keep it under wraps and control it and she did for the first 45 years of her life, although she had aged Oliva Grace still had the face and body of 20 year old. Then an older angel had cornered her, snarling at her and Olivia had lost it. She had shot her hand out and the older angel was raised from the ground, an invisible force strangling him. The older angel had grabbed his throat and was turning an ugly blue shade. One of the Elders happened to be walking past. He had seen Olivia Grace's powers and hauled her before the high council. She was forced to show them her unique gifts. Olivia Grace was then banished.

When she first met Nick Fury he had sat down in front of her and ran a hand down his face, he looked at her for a second before regaining composure. "You're special." Fury shrugged. "I get it. But that does not mean you get to assault my officers, you do not get to disrespect this room. This is my room and as you are in this room. You are mine. Do you understand?"

Olivia Grace titled her head to the side, mocking Fury. "That is very…controlling of you Nick." She leant forward. "Can I call you Nick? Is that alright? I feel we're friends so I'm gonna call you Nick."

Nick Fury slammed his hand down on the steel table. "This is not a game! This is a life or death situation. You tell me why you came down to Earth!"

Olivia Grace scoffed, "Life or death?!" She laughed loudly, throwing her golden locks backwards. "You need to not be so dramatic." Nick Fury leant back in his chair. "You want to know who I am." She asked quietly. "I will tell you Mr Fury but it will not get you anywhere." She told him truthfully. "This is my problem that I am faced with; you will not be able to alter my life course because I caused this Mr Fury."

Nick Fury breathed in lowly. "That is how you're wrong Ms Grace." Olivia looked at Fury expectantly. "I wish to offer you a place on the Avengers Initiative team."

Olivia Grace didn't know, but it altered her life course.


	2. Chapter 2

She was taught how to harness her powers. Learn to control her dark side. "Up." Natasha Romanoff snapped at her. With a push Olivia got herself up off the blue mat underneath her. "Again."

"I can't." Olivia panted her wings behind her sliding straight back into her back. "Why don't we call it a day?" Natasha Romanoff was a trained killer, it seems from birth Natasha Romanoff had her life planned out.

"You're supposed to be joining a team to protect people, yet you can't protect yourself." Natasha told her, hands on hip. "So get your little wings out and punch me in the face." Olivia rolled her eyes.

"No." Olivia told her sternly, turning her back on Natasha Romanoff and walking away. She made one fatal mistake; never turn your back on an assassin. Natasha watched her for a second before she ran after, grabbing her by her neck and slamming her down onto the floor. "You." Olivia spat the blood from her mouth onto the floor. "Bitch."

"Hit me."

Olivia slid her wings out of her back just by moving her shoulders forward slightly. "Gladly." She snarled and she ran towards Natasha, throwing a punch that was blocked. Olivia grimaced as Natasha's grip on her fists tightened. Olivia swooped her leg underneath Natasha's leg but the red head simply jumped over it. She remembered her training and backed off, letting Natasha come to her, which she did. Olivia ducked onto her knees as a punch was thrown over her head as well as Natasha's other elbow heading towards her neck. Olivia grabbed Natasha by the belt on her cat suit. Her wings fell into her back once more, and Olivia lifted Nat off the floor, over her head and behind her. Nat fell onto her back with a bump, but Olivia had already grabbed her leg, her wings falling out again and was now hovering metres from the ground. "Go on master assassin, give up."

"Never." Natasha craned upwards to grab Olivia's hand but the Fallen Angel let go of Natasha's leg and Natasha fell for several seconds before she was caught as she hit the ground. She was literally millimetres from the blue mat before she was placed down on top of it.

"Are we done now?" Olivia asked wiping the sweat from her brow. Natasha looked up at Olivia, a wicked grin on her face.

"Until tomorrow." She reminded Olivia. "You get to use you voodoo magic on me."

"It's not voodoo magic." Olivia called scoffing over her shoulder as she left the training room. She practised precision with Clint, her eyes focusing on a specific spot to hit. He would look at her impressed when she hit the mark, but that gradually wore off.

"Come on kid, you're out."

"Only by a couple!" She insisted. "And don't call me kid!" She hissed, stabbing Clint's shoulder with her finger. "I'm older than you!" That's usually how their training sessions went, and then Olivia would practise on Nat. Using her abilities to the best she could. Until she no longer flipped out and used her abilities on the unsuspecting victim, which happened once or twice when she found agents snooping through her room.

It was time for Olivia Grace to encounter the world.


	3. Chapter 3

When she first met Steve Rogers he had punched a punching bag so hard that it had split open and the sand was pouring onto the floor.

"Trouble sleeping?" Fury questioned as the pair walked in front of a panting Steve Rogers. Steve looked up and glanced at the girl by Fury's side. Olivia Grace was now a fully composed, trained fighter. Steve had heard about her, of course he had, but seeing her in real life made him realise they weren't lying. The papers and SHIELD agents had started talking about Olivia. SHIELD shut the press down but it didn't stop its own agents. Rumours spread around the base quickly; Olivia Grace was actually an angel.

"I've slept for seventy years, sir." Steve replied. "I think I've had my fill."

"Then shouldn't you be out celebrating?" Olivia spoke walking round the gym, her hand stroking another punch bag. "Seeing the world?" She smiled at Steve. "I know that's what I did."

"I went under, the world was at war, I wake up, and they say we won. They didn't say what we lost." Steve replied in honesty and the pair made eye contact and Olivia quirked one eyebrow.

"How very honest of you Rogers." She replied returning back to Fury's side like a trained dog, and grabbing the thick files from her boss

"We've made some mistakes along the way. Some very recently." Nick Fury told Steve, getting his attention focused away from Olivia.

"You here with a mission, sir?"

"I am." Nick Fury replied.

"Trying to get me back in the world?" Steve asked.

"Trying to save it." Olivia told him, handing Steve a file on the Tesseract, along with other files on HYRDA'S projects. "Enjoy reading up on that one." She winked

"Hydra's secret weapon." Steve rifled through the files, not before he caught Olivia's very badly disguised wink.

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think; the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs." Fury explained.

"Who took it from you?"

"He's called Loki. He's not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know." Fury told Steve, who looked up listening to the tale that Olivia had heard so many times.

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me."

"Ten bucks says you're wrong." Olivia smirked, holding out her hand. Steve shook it, frowning at the heat radiating off her so heavily.

Fury looked at the pair: "There's a debriefing package waiting for you back at your apartment." Steve nodded and turned around, picking up a punching bag and walking out the gym. "Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" Fury called after him.

Steve stopped; "You should have left it in the ocean." He called.

Olivia watched him go, a small smile playing on her lips. "You be careful with Mr Rogers, Olivia." Olivia turned to Fury. "He's a smart man who does not his vision clouded by you."

In any other circumstance Olivia would have been morally offended. "Director Fury…I would never-"

"I'm just warning you Ms Grace." Fury told her. "We need to leave." He spoke as two men entered the gym, surprised by the odd pair.

Olivia had been taught how to blend in. A necessity for a SHIELD agent, she smirked at the two buff men and flicked her blond hair over her shoulder before following Nick Fury from the dark gym.

It was only a few days later when Olivia-Grace found herself on the Helicarrier getting re-aquatinted with Natasha Romanoff.

"So you meet Cap yet?" Romanoff questioned as they both watched the Quinjet fly in.

Olivia spared Natasha a glance, "He seems nice." She paused. "Fury thinks I will cloud his mind."

"Fury thinks a lot of things." Natasha told her. "Doesn't always mean he's right."

The Quinjet touched down on the Helicarrier's landing strip. The ramp at the back of the Quinjet started lowering slowly, and out walked Phil Coulson and Steve Rogers.

"Coulson!" Olivia shouted; glad to see her old friend.

"Olivia-Grace, my how you have grown." Coulson laughed taking her appearance in. "Love the hair."

Natasha ignored the pair's reunion. "Agent Romanoff. Steve Rogers." She spoke bluntly.

"Ma'am?" Steve asked confused.

"Hi." Romanoff simplified. "They need you on the bridge." She threw over to Coulson.

"See you there." Coulson told the trio. "Lovely seeing you 'Liv." He winked at the fallen angel and moved away.

The trio walked towards the railing of the Helicarrier. "There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" Natasha asked smirking over at Steve.

"Trading cards?" Steve repeated.

"They're vintage." Olivia told him. "He's very proud." Behind them Bruce Banner nervously inadvertently walked over, dodging around people who got in his way.

"Dr Banner." Steve turned and shook Dr Banner's hand.

"Oh yeah, hi." Banner nodded. "They told me you were coming."

"Word is you can find the cube." Steve spoke, crossing his arms and titling his head.

"Is that the only word on me?" Banner asked, almost nervously.

Steve looked at Banner and smiled. "Only word I care about."

Banner softened, taking in the sentiment. "Must be strange for you, all this."

"Well, this actually kind of familiar." Steve replied.

Olivia-Grace watched the scene behind the men. "Gentlemen, you might want to step inside." She spoke. "It's gonna get a little hard to breathe." Banner took her in for the first time. He blinked, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Dr Banner, a pleasure." She smirked, bowing slightly. "Heard all about you." She winked.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked not seeing that Olivia and Dr Banner were having a weird eye staring contest.

Dr Banner snapped out of it. "Really? They wanted me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" He scoffed at the idea. Natasha and Olivia shared a knowing grin and watched as both men went to the railing. "Oh no. This is much worse."

"If you'll follow me." Natasha led to the two men away. "This'll be your last time to stretch your wings and fly." Natasha called to her, using sneaky play on words.

"Noted."

"Do you actually fly?" Steve asked Olivia as she followed them into the Helicarrier. Olivia turned her head to him. "I mean-"

"Mr Rogers." Olivia began. "I'm going to give you one piece of advice." Natasha smirked knowing exactly what Olivia was about to say. "Listen to the rumours." She lowered her voice. "It's all true." She whispered and walked past Nat and onto the bridge. "We're at lock, sir." She told Fury, who was sat in his command chair.

"Good. Let's disappear."

"It's a go." Maria Hill spoke. "Let's get moving, boys." She spoke into her comm. "Make us invisible." The Helicarrier took off from the water; the reflective mirrors camouflage the large Helicarrier into the blue sky around.

"Gentlemen." Nick Fury turned around just in time to see Steve pass Olivia a twenty dollar bill. Banner reluctantly shook Fury's hand. "Dr Banner, thank you for coming."

"Thanks for asking nicely." Banner nodded. "So, uh…how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract you're in the clear." Fury replied simply.

"Where are you with that?" Bruce asked. Nick Fury turned to Coulson for an explanation.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us." Coulson replied. Natasha who was eyeing the monitor with Clint's face on it spoke.

"That's still not going to find him."

Banner nodded agreeing with Nat's statement. "You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" He asked. Olivia's eye widened. What the hell is a spectrometer?

"How many are there?" Olivia asked pretending to be clued up on the situation.

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?" Banner finished, raising an eyebrow to Fury.

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr Banner to his laboratory, please." Fury spoke to Romanoff, who nodded leading Banner down the hall.

Olivia heard Natasha speak to Banner, before turning the corner. "You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys." Smirking Olivia sat down at the round table on the Helicarrier, Fury watched her for a moment. Olivia met his eyes and knew what he was thinking.

"Not clouding don't worry Director."


	4. Chapter 4

"I mean, if it's not too much trouble."

"No, no. It's fine." Steve told Coulson, smiling kindly.

"It's a vintage set. It took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint, slight foxing around the edges, but..." Coulson was interrupted by Oliva.

"We got a hit. Sixty-seven percent match. Weight, cross match, seventy-nine percent." She told the pair looking at the screen, frowning.

"Location?" Coulson demanded.

Olivia's frown increased. "Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse." She then paused. "He's not exactly hiding."

"Captain, Olivia you're up." Fury told the pair.

"Come on Cap," Olivia started walking from the bridge; she turned to talk to him now walking backwards. "We got to suit up." She winked at him and led him to the locker room. As Steve walked up to his locker, it opened. The Captain American uniform and shield gleamed back at him. He was silent as he looked upon it. Olivia watched him from the door frame, which she was leaning on. Head titled to the side. "You alright Captain?" She spoke softly but still Steve jumped.

"Just fine Ma'am." He replied turning to her. "Just brings back old memories."

Olivia smiled. "I heard about what you did." She spoke. "Of course I'd never heard you until I landed on earth."

"With a bump, I heard." Steve interrupted.

"Yes with a bump." Olivia rolled her eyes at Steve, who smiled. "And then I heard what you did. It's brave coming back."

"People need me." Steve frowned.

"If it was me…."Olivia paused. "I couldn't." She went to her own locker and opened it. A leather brown skirt and top winked back at her. It was a like a gladiator's uniform, or the one Asgardians wore while locked in battle.

"You can actually fight in that?" Steve questioned.

Olivia turned to Steve, a smirk on her lips. She walked forward to Steve until they were only inches apart. "Oh Cap. I can do so _much_ more than fight in this skirt." Her voice was nearly down to whisper. "You'll just have to wait and see." She turned away from Steve and grabbed the hangers and left the locker room to get changed. She had shrugged not to bothered about the armour-fighting gear and muttered _"Can distract them with something else now."_ She preferred a more casual approach to fighting clothes. She slipped on some white plimsolls and met Steve in the hallway. "Read to kick Loki's ass?" She asked simply.

"Of course I am."

Natasha flew the jet to Germany, telling Olivia to let Steve go first and not get involved until it's strictly necessary. When they got there Loki had the civilians on the floor, kneeling in front of him.

"You're up Cap." Romanoff told Steve, who nodded. He dropped from the jet and onto the ground, in the midst of the sea of people that were bowing lowly to Loki.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing." Steve spoke moving through the crowd, addressing Loki.

"The soldier. A man out of time." Loki smirked.

"I'm not the one who's out of time." Steve quipped as Romanoff pulled the Quinjet in closer, a machine gun pointed towards Loki.

 _"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down."_ Natasha spoke over the comms. Loki sent a blast of blue towards the Quinjet, Natasha manoeuvred just in time which distracted Loki, giving Steve time to throw his shield at Loki.

Loki knocked Steve to the ground, Steve again throwing his shield at Loki. Olivia stood from her seat in the Quinjet.

"Not yet Olivia." Romanoff warned. Loki and Steve then started fighting, throwing punches at each other. Steve got knocked down by Loki; standing over him Loki pointed the sceptre's tip on Steve's helmet.

"Kneel." Loki hissed.

"Not today!" Steve swung his leg out at Loki, knocking him to the ground but Loki got up quickly again knocking Steve down to his knees.

"Time to strangle him." Natasha told Olivia, lowering the ramp at the back. Olivia let her wings slide from the position in her back before dropping from the Quinjet. They unfurled quickly and started flapping. Olivia shot of downwards towards Loki, who looked up just in time before Olivia flattened him to the ground. Her hand shot out and Loki started choking. His face turning an ugly colour.

AC/DC 'Shoot To Thrill' started playing loudly, knocking Olivia's concentration. Loki was free from the mental grip and shot a blast of blue at Olivia who only had time to duck and roll out the way. She growled as he sent into some rubble. She lifted up into the air as Tony Stark, clad in the iconic red and gold Iron Man suit knocked Loki to the ground.

"Make you move Reindeer Games." Tony spoke looking at Loki, who put his hands up in surrender, his armour vanishing leaving him in civilian clothes. "Good move."

"Mr Stark." Steve commented tersely.

"Captain."

They loaded Loki onto the Quinjet, gagged and cuffed.

"Hey Angel-Face." Tony addressed Olivia, who turned and raised an eyebrow. "Massive fan of your work." He winked at her. "When you came plummeting to Earth with a smack I said to Pepper we just have to get you over to the Stark Tower sometime."

"It's so lovely." Olivia started. "To meet a fan." She blew him a kiss at Tony, who pretended to catch it and store it in his front pocket, and moved to the front of the Quinjet. Loki's eyes following her almost bare legs.

"Hey." Steve barked at Loki. "I don't remember her eyes being down there."

"Has he said anything?" Fury asked over the head seat. A clash of thunder, sudden and abrupt, clashed overhead.

"Not a word." Natasha replied.

"Just get him here." Fury told her. "We're low on time." Olivia moved back to where Steve and Tony were having a whispered conversation.

"I don't like it." Steve whispered.

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony asked.

Steve nodded; "I don't remember it being that easy. That guy packs a wallop."

"Still, you're pretty spry, for an older fellow." Tony smirked. "What's your trick? Pilates?"

"What?"

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle." Tony and Steve looked at each other. Steve finally meeting his ego match.

"Don't start with the age jokes." Olivia warned. "I'm older than you." She pointed her finger at Tony, judgingly.

"What can I say?" Tony smirked. "I love an older woman."

Olivia rolled her eyes, enjoying the two and froing. "I got say…I've always wanted a toy boy." She smirked at Tony.

Steve cleared his throat, trying to get the pair to acknowledge he was there. "Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."

"Yeah; there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." Tony replied. A clap of thunder and lightning nearly hit the jet, making it judder violently.

"Where's this coming from?" Natasha questioned, as the thunder rumbled on. Loki intently stared outside the window.

"What's the matter?" Steve quipped. "Scared of a little thunder?"

"I'm not awfully fond of what follows." Loki replied drawlingly.

Something hit the top of the jet creating a dull thud. The back ramp was pried open and the mighty Thor strolled inwards, grabbed Loki by his throat and flew off.

"Thor." Olivia spat, she advanced down the ramp and let her wings unfurl once again.

"Where are you going?" Steve questioned.

"Going to smack the crap out of a Norse god." Olivia replied and simply dropped off the ramp, letting her wings take control.

"Now that is a guy." Tony commented about Thor, putting his Iron Man helmet on.

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha questioned.

"Think the guy's a friendly?" Steve asked Tony.

"Doesn't matter." Tony replied. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Steve called to him.

"I have a plan. Attack." Stark jumped out the jet, ready to chase Thor. Steve sighed and went to grab a parachute.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap." Natasha advised.

"I don't see how I can." Steve replied, putting the parachute on.

"These guys come from legends, they're basically gods. And with Olivia in the mix…it's going to get very heated. Angels and Norse gods aren't a good mix." Natasha explained.

"There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." Steve replied and jumped out the jet. Another one added to the chase.

They were somewhere in the European mountains. Olivia was overtaken, stupidly, by Iron Man. She gave his retreating figure the middle figure. Stark tackled Thor off the rock face that Loki was stood on with his brother.

"I'm listening." Loki smirked.

"I hope you are." Olivia landed softly on the rock.

"Ah." Loki turned a grin on his face. "The angel."

"Fallen from Grace itself." Olivia smirked; she sat down on a rock and looked at Loki. "So are you going to come quietly or not?"

"Depends." Loki looked at her. "What are you going to do to me if I don't?"

Olivia shook her long, blonde hair backwards and smiled at Loki, getting up off the rock and moving towards him slowly until they were only inches from each other. The angel looking up at the Asgardian. "What do you want me to do?" She asked raising one perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

"Anything you want to do to me." Loki replied cockily.

Olivia stood up and moved towards Loki, "So you're not coming quietly?"

"It's very unlikely." Loki replied.

"Oh." Olivia shrugged her shoulders. "Shame." She turned to walk away from Loki but then suddenly whirled round, her outside leg outstretched. It knocked Loki to the ground, before Olivia knocked him unconscious. She tutted lowly. "Ok now let's go break up another fight." She picked Loki up by his long, black hair and stepped off the rock face, down to the clearing where Thor, Stark and Steve were all lying, the trees around them were blown from their roots. Her plimsolls came in contact with the ground first, and then Loki's face which thumped into the grass. "Are we done boys?" She asked innocently, letting go off Loki's hair meaning his whole body fell with a thud onto the grass. She cast Thor a glance. "How nice to see you again Thor."

"Olivia-Grace." Thor boomed. "I heard of your banishment from my Father."

"Oh really?" Olivia turned. "I wondered if you did because nothing seems to reach Asgard anymore, or reach your fathers ears, you know due to his ignorance."

"My father-"

"Is not ignorant? Yeah course." Olivia gripped the back of Loki's hair and started rising from the ground. "Meet you back at base boys." She smirked before turning and flying back up to Quinjet, she went through the lowered ramp, slamming Loki's face onto the floor.

"Hey." Natasha called. "Don't break the merchandise."


	5. Chapter 5

The Helicarrier was quiet as Loki walked through, escorted by a dozen guards, his hands handcuffed. Bruce Banner who was working on the Chitauri sceptre. He looked up at Loki, pausing his work, who nodded and smile at Banner. They escorted Loki to a room full of two large, glass cells held by hydraulic rigs. Fury walked out of the shadow and to the control panel. "In case it's unclear. You try to escape. You so much as scratch that glass." Fury pressed a button opening a hatch underneath Loki's cell. Loki walked over to one side and peered down. A gusting wind invaded the compartment. "Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?!" Fury closed the hatch and pointed at Loki. "Ant." Fury then pointed at the button, which with one push would drop Loki immediately. "Boot."

Loki smirked at Fury; "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me." He then looked over at the other glass cell.

"Built for something a lot stronger than you." Fury replied.

"Oh, I've heard." Loki smirked turning to look up at one of the cameras that were streaming the live link to the 6 people around one table. "One for the mindless beast, who makes paly he's still a man. How desperate are you that you call upon such a lost creature to defend you?"

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control." Fury told him staring intently at Loki. "You talk about peace and you kill `cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

Loki smirked at Fury, "Ooh. It burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is."

"Well, you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something." Fury went to walk away when Loki spoke again.

"The little fallen angel." He smirked walking around the glass cell. "Is that who the others one for? The angel who you've reformed into a model citizen. I saw her in action and it delighted me." Loki purred. "It was a pleasure to see her, for her to choke me of any breath." Loki tutted. "But she's out of control." He looked at the glass cell. "I'll be waiting for her to join me soon." Loki looked up at the camera and smirked.

The screen went black. Olivia clenched her fist under the table. _How dare he?!_ Thor, who hadn't been watching only listening, crossed his arms. Completely torn.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" Banner tried to lighten the mood.

"Loki's going to drag this out." Steve pointed out. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract." Thor explained.

Olivia looked at Thor, despite their cultural differences she had to learn to get alone with the Asgardian. As if feeling her gaze on him, Thor turned and looked at Olivia.

"An army?" Steve asked seriously. "From outer space?"

"So he's building another portal." Olivia spoke. "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor questioned her.

"Yeah, he's an astrophysicist." Olivia replied standing up from her chair, and rubbing her forehead.

"He's a friend." Thor told her watching her tensely. The pair stood on opposite ends of the room.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours." Natasha spoke for the first time.

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him." Steve spoke up "He's not leading an army from here.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him." Banner commented and Olivia had to back him back. The pair had been outed in front complete strangers.

"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother." Thor told them all.

"He killed eighty people in two days." Olivia told him.

"He's adopted." Thor told her shortly.

"Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?" Banner questioned.

"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony Stark walked through to the bridge. "I'll fly you there. Keep the love alive." Tony told Coulson. "Means the portal won't collapse in on itself, like it did at SHIELD." Tony turned to Thor and spoke; "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." He then turned back onto the topic of Iridium. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants." Tony then turned to the crew. "Uh, raised the mid-mast, ship the top sails." He then shouted incredibly loudly. "That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did." Tony then covered one eye and looked at the screen. "How does Fury do this?"

"He turns." Agent Maria Hill told him. Olivia watched as Tony pressed a small rounded hacking implant underneath Fury's desk.

"Well, that sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density one, something to kick start the cube." Tony

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Maria Hill asked him, surveying him.

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?" He asked the group.

"Nerd." Olivia whispered as she sat back down next to Steve.

Steve cast her an amused glance. "Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" He asked.

"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Banner replied.

"Wow. Science bros." Olivia whispered cynically.

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunnelling effect."

" Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet." Bruce told Tony, who grinned at Dr Banner.

"Finally, someone who speaks English." Dr Banner and Tony shook hands, both having mutual respect for each other.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked the room blatantly not understanding a word that escaped both Tony and Bruce's mouths

Olivia turned to him. "It's a science convo Steve, only they understand it."

"It's good to meet you, Dr Banner. You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." Tony told him, brutally honest as always.

Banner looked down, as if he was slightly embarrassed. "Thanks."

Director Fury then walked onto the bridge, observing the situation. "Dr Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him."

"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." Steve spoke up now seated around the round table.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys." Nick Fury told them all.

"Monkeys? I do not understand." Thor crossed his arms, his face furrowed in confusion.

"I do!" Steve exclaimed happily. "I understood that reference." He added quieter when nearly all the people on the bridge shot him questioning looks Tony rolled his eyes, while Steve still sat there looking immensely proud of himself. Olivia patted his arm as she stood up.

"It's ok Steve." She whispered smiling devilishly down at him. "I get it too."

"Shall we play, doctor?" Tony asked after the pause, looking towards Banner.

"Let's play some." Banner agreed and Olivia watched the pair retreat from the bridge to the safety of their lab.

Fury walked behind her, making her turn. "Go keep an eye on them." He told her quietly. Olivia nodded and followed the pair.

"Agent Angel Face!" Tony spoke. "You're not being very discreet." He told her, walking backwards so he could face her.

"Who said I was being discreet Man of Iron?" She shot back.

"I like you!" Tony said pointing at her.

"Oh how I wish it could be returned." Olivia replied sassily walking into their lab. "Oh my, my you have got all the toys." Olivia pulled one of the hanging screens towards her and accessing one of the cameras that were dotted around the room that Loki was enclosed in. He was quiet, pacing the glass cell. Tony and Bruce were wittering away talking about ions or something, Olivia wasn't too sure. They were never taught science where she came from. She looked intently as the screen. _Come on. Come on! Do something!_ She closed off the screen and looked up just in time to see Stark prod Banner with a mini electrical pod.

"Ow!" Banner muttered rubbing his side as Tony leaned in intently to gauge Banner's reaction.

"Nothing?" Tony asked.

"Hey!" Steve walked in. "Are you nuts?!"

"You really have got a lid on it, haven't you?" Olivia asked in amazement as she walked over. "That's interesting." She added after a second, she met Banner's eyes.

"What's your secret?" Tony piped up "Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?" He questioned. Olivia turned her head to the side and smirked at Banner.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked outraged by Tony's insistence to let Banner unleash his green alter ego.

"Funny things are." Tony replied simply.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." Steve growled and then realised what he said "No offense, doctor." He added.

"No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." Banner replied.

"You're tiptoeing, big man-" Tony started only to be cut off by Olivia.

"You need to strut." She smirked leaning over the lap table to swipe Tony's blueberries.

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr Stark." Steve told him.

"Hey!" Tony turned. "She did it too!" He swiped his blueberries back "And you think I'm not? Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve asked.

Tony looked to Olivia as if to explain, although having met hours previous they understood each other. "He's a spy." Olivia turned to Steve. "Cap he's the spy. His secrets have secrets." She explained shrugging.

"It's bugging him too, isn't it?" Tony asked suddenly, turning to Banner who was taken completely by surprise.

"Uh….I just wanna finish my work here and…" Banner stumbled over his words.

"Doctor?" Steve moved closer into the lab.

"'A warm light for all mankind, Loki's jab at Fury about the cube." Banner started.

"I heard it." Steve nodded.

"Well, I think that was meant for you." Banner pointed to Tony. "Even is Barton didn't post that all over the news."

The Stark Tower? That big ugly-" Steve paused as Tony gave him a look. "…Building in New York."

"It's powered by Stark Reactors, self-sustaining energy source." Banner explained. "That building will run itself for what, a year?" Bruce asked Tony, who shrugged before replying;

"That's just the prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now." Tony smirked.

Banner started talking again, referring to Tony. "So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files." Tony knew it would annoy Steve. Olivia sighed and rubbed her forehead as a headache started to form.

Steve was totally taken aback; "I'm sorry, did you say...?"

Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge." Tony replied smirking. "In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide." Tony then held out the bag of blueberries. "Blueberry?"

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?" Steve scoffed.

Olivia rubbed her head again and stood up. "An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not possible." Olivia spoke, understanding the situation entirely. "Shit." She whispered.

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up." Steve was looking at her, and felt a pang of guilt at knowing she was upset. He didn't know she was in the room otherwise he wouldn't have stormed in. "This is a man who means to start a war, and if don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them." Steve was speaking to the room but was looking Olivia straight in eyes.

"Ok break up the love fest." Tony scoffed. "And following isn't really my style."

"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve replied smiling.

Tony's face fell solemn, clearly a nerve was hit. "Of the people in this room, which one is; A. wearing a spangly outfit, and B. not of use?"

"Stop it." Olivia told them both. "I mean you two-" She looked between them. "Two fully grown men…are arguing about fashion." She shook her head. "Little bit of advice; leave it to the women, and sometimes Banner."

"Steve tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?" Banner ignored the jab from Olivia and spoke directly to Steve, who looked like he was taken in all the possibilities but like an obedient solider he shook it off.

"Just find the cube." Steve replied shortly and walked out the lab.

Olivia turned to Tony. "You really are a complete ass sometimes."

"Listen." Tony turned to her. "I know you've got a little thing for the solider in blue, but you can't think that Fury is telling you everything."

Olivia paused and looked at Tony; "He tells me everything I need to know and this is satisfying for me." She looked at Banner briefly and then started to walk out the room. "The difference between me and you, Tony." She looked back at him. "You have to keep digging and digging and you will keep digging until you have unleashed everything. So all of Fury's dirty laundry will be aired." Tony was staring intently at her. "But that means my dirty laundry will also be aired because there are things I am not proud of that I did and SHIELD had to cover that up and bury it. So think about what you are doing." She put her hand on the doorframe. "Please."


	6. Chapter 6

It didn't surprise her. With an arched brow Olivia Grace entered into the supposedly secure storage area that withheld large, metal crates stacked up high. She spotted him easily, on the catwalk bridge raised up high. Skilfully and soundlessly Olivia started climbing up to Steve's level.

"Loki's planning on releasing the Hulk." Natasha's voice spoke over coms. "And on getting Agent Grace into the devil mode." Olivia stopped. No. Her bad side was uncontrollable. Every angel has an inner devil fighting to come out, and Olivia's was more violent and scarier than seen before. She had a lid on it, didn't she?

Steve was now rooting through a large metal crate. Olivia cast a glance at him, before launching herself down off the suspended bridge and ran from the room. Steve watched her go, his eyes following her movements. Olivia ran down the hallways, getting to much momentum and when rounding a corner, would skid and slip on SHIELD's slippy floors. She burst into Tony and Bruce's lab to see an angry standoff with the two scientists and Nick Fury.

"What are you doing here?!" Fury rounded on her. "Where is Rogers-?"

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Olivia spat, pointing her finger at Fury. "You said it'd be a secret!" Her voice was rising dramatically and Tony took a step back.

Fury looked at her for a minute before turning back to Tony and Bruce, who had stopped working on the sceptre. "What are you doing Mr Stark?"

Tony looked at Fury, and crossed his arms. "Uh...kind of been wondering the same thing about you."

Fury wasn't fazed as he looked at Tony Stark with a cool, calm collective manner. "You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

Bruce suddenly piped up. "We are. The models locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

Olivia looked confused between the trios. Tony continued to talk. "And you'll get your cube back, no muss, and no fuss." His monitor suddenly showed a collection of secret files. Olivia stopped. Her heart hammering in her chest. "What is phase 2?" Tony questioned. An assault rifle suddenly dropped on the table in front of the four.

"PHASE 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." Steve Rogers was pissed. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow." Steve told Tony. Olivia was getting agitated between the three men who were bickering over each other.

Fury turned to Steve, and tried to explain. "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're..."

"I'm sorry, Nick." Tony interrupted and he turned the computer screen towards Fury and showed him the plans of the weapons. "What were you lying?" Tony asked

"I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve told him. The door slid open and Thor and Natasha walked in. Nat's steely eye on Bruce's pissed ones.

"Did you know about this?" Bruce asked Nat.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" Natasha then turned to Olivia. "And yourself." Olivia's hand clenched her fist, ready to punch Natasha squarely in the face.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed." Banner replied tersely.

"Loki's manipulating you." Natasha told him. "Both of you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?" Banner spat.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you." Natasha replied.

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." Bruce told her.

Olivia could feel the cold water feeling flowing over her. She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down.

"Because of them." Fury pointed at Thor and Olivia.

"Us?!" Thor boomed, pointing a finger between the two non-earth dwellings. Olivia moved away slightly from the group.

"Need to take some air 'Liv?" Natasha asked almost maliciously.

"Shut up. Or I swear to god I will crush your skull." Olivia replied, her fists clenching, a hand to her forehead.

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that levelled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned." Nick Fury explained, his only good eye controlled on Olivia.

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor told him. Olivia snorted at the irony. Thor turned to her, arms crossed and he glared at her.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled." Fury told him.

"Like Liv's little word?" Natasha interjected, Olivia turned to her.

"Exactly." Olivia seethed.

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve asked Fury.

"You're work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war." Thor boomed.

"A higher form?" Steve asked.

"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something." Fury spoke, turning to the pair.

Sarcastically Tony put in his two pennies worth. "Nuclear deterrent. `Because that always calms everything right down."

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Olivia spat, turning on him. She was defending Fury, for no apparent reason except for her secrets.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep..." Steve muttered.

"Wait, Wait, Hold on. How is this now about me?" Tony demanded looking between Olivia and Steve.

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve asked and Olivia rolled her eyes between the pair.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor threw towards Olivia who nodded, completely agreeing.

"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury asked, his temper was rising and he was losing his cool.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos." Thor replied, almost sassily.

"It's his M.O isn't it?" Fury looked at Banner. "I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos." Bruce told them all, simply. "We're...we're a time-bomb."

"You need to step away." Fury told him sternly, approaching him.

"Why shouldn't they guy let off a little steam?" Tony questioned, shrugging his shoulders clapping Steve on the shoulder.

"You know damn well why! Back off!" Steve replied angrily pushing Tony's arm away from him.

"I'm starting to want you to make me." Tony replied, looking Steve directly in the eye. It was an ego match.

"Yeah, big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?" Steve questioned. Both men only inches from each other.

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Tony listed, ticking them off his fingers.

"Will you two stop?!" Olivia demanded pushing the pair away from each other.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you." Steve's voice dropped dramatically.

"I think I would just cut the wire." Tony replied simply.

"Always a way out." Steve scoffed. "You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero, like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle." Tony replied, both looking each other directly in the eyes.

"Put on the suite, let's go a few rounds." Steve challenged stepping towards Tony, Olivia stuck between the two.

"Steve cut it out." Olivia told him pushing him back. "Will you two just stop your petty fight?!"

"A lot easier said than done." Steve told her but he took a step back.

"You people are so petty, and tiny." Thor boomed and Olivia had to agree. From what she gathered while on earth for 2 years is that humans were very self-obsessed.

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-" Fury was cut off.

"Where? You're renting my room." Banner spat.

"The cell was just-"

"In case you needed to kill me but you can't! I know, I tried." Banner's confession stopped the rest of the group bickering. "I got low, I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on, I focused on helping other people. I was good until you dragged me back into this freak show. And put everyone here at risk. You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?" Banner asked.

As if in sync Natasha and Fury reached for their guns. "Bruce. Put down the sceptre." Olivia told him softly, and their eyes met. Two beings that if manipulated would turn ugly and lose control. Bruce nodded, feeling the sense of calm admitting from Olivia. A computer beeped and Tony turned.

"Got it."

"Sorry kids." Banner started talking again. "You don't get to see my party trick after all." He walked to the computer and Olivia breathed a sigh of relief and physically slumped against the table.

"Located the Tesseract?" Thor asked watching the two men.

"I can get there faster." Tony told him quickly.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it." Thor explained.

"For once I'm agreeing with Thor." Olivia spoke. "You don't want to go near that thing." She shook her head, her golden hair following her. "Tony-"

"You're not going alone." Steve angrily interrupted, grabbing Tony's upper arm. Tony shoved it off.

"You going to stop me?!" He demanded.

"Put on the suit let's find out." Steve replied.

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

"Put on the suit."

Olivia watched the exchanged, her heart fluttering. "Oh my god." Banner whispered and turning her head to the side, Olivia glanced at the screen Banner was looking at.

Then…BANG


	7. Chapter 7

The explosion ripped through the side of the ship, the place where Olivia once stood fell beneath here. Before she fell a hand clamped onto her arm pulling her away from the flams that leapt below. Thor hauled her up through the floor and the pair sat panting at each other. Enemies coming together to help each other out, who knew?

"Put on the suit." Steve wheezed.

"Yeah!" Tony replied as Steve helped him up. Fury lay, clutching his ribs.

"Hill?!" He barked down the comms.

Olivia sat up, her head had been bleeding but it had stopped, and put her hand to her temple. "Ow."

"Olivia! Are you ok?" Fury asked, trying to turn his body to see.

"Ship shape, sir." Olivia replied before getting to her feet. With a slight grunt Olivia started walking.

"Suit up." Fury spoke to her.

Olivia turned, "Always." Olivia let a smile rise to her face, and limped out the room towards the sigth of the destruction. She turned the corner where she collided with Tony and Steve. "Sup." She nodded and looked through the dimly lit corridor.

"Find engine three. I'll meet you there." Tony instructed them both and disappeared into a tech room.

"No injures?" Steve asked,

Olivia turned. "Not that I know of, maybe you can check later?" She winked as the pair continued down the corridor. "Now where are you hiding engine three?" She clicked her tongue.

"What secrets are you hiding?"

The question was so out of the blue that Olivia stopped jogging and looked at Steve's back. She shook her head and continued to jog after Steve. "Secrets that would make your skin curl." She paused. "That's the saying right?"

"Don't know why you're asking me." Steve laughed. "I've been in ice for a solid couple of years."

Olivia smiled slightly. "Here! It's here." With all his strength Steve started pushing the door. "Stark, we're here." Olivia spoke over Comms.

"Good." Tony spoke. "See what we got." He flew in the hole in the side of the ship and close to the damaged part of the engine. "I gotta get this super conducting cooling system back online before I can access the rotors and work on dislodging the debris."

"Uh English please?" Olivia asked. Ignoring her Tony started pulling debris from the rotors

"I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position." Tony told Steve, who promptly jumped over the broken railing and ripped open the control panel and looked at it. "What does it look like in there?"

"It seems to run on some form of electricity." Steve replied.

"You're not wrong there." Tony muttered sarcastically as he continued to blast debris from the rotors.

"The relays are intact." Olivia told him. "What's our next move?"

"Your next move Agent." Fury spoke over comms. "Barton will be on board; you need to intersect him before he hurts anyone else."

"Roger that Fury." Olivia replied.

"God." Tony spoke. "You are whipped."

"Shut up Man of Iron." Olivia replied and quickly ducked into the Heli-Carrier. She marched her way to the bridge, encountering some of Barton's men. She stopped at the end of the hallway; outnumbered. Four on one. They raised their guns and aimed. With a calming breath Olivia walked down the hallway. Her hand shot out and the two front men rose from the ground, gripping their necks as an unknown force start constricting them. Releasing her hand the two men dropped onto the other two. With a swish of her hand the unconscious men were thrown against the walls, and slid down into a heap onto the floor. She continued down the hallway and got to the bridge. "Shit. Is that Banner?" She asked catching a glimpse of Banner or should she say the Hulk? He was wreaking havoc on one of the lower decks; Romanoff was on the floor after being chucked against a wall, while Thor and Banner were battling it out.

"We need a full evac on the lower hanging bay." Fury spoke and Hill nodded getting straight to it. She went to leave when the door opened and in slid a grenade.

"Grenade!" Hill yelled. The grenade detonated and Hill was sent flying down the stairs. Fury fired the gun through the open door before moving to the side. Olivia crouched behind one of the desks. One member of the team walked in, pausing. Agent Hill shot the man, and he fell to the floor. Blood pooling from the back of his head.

Gunfire ricocheted around the bridge, Olivia ducking slightly as she manoeuvred to get a closer look at the men invading the bridge. Agents locking fire with tactically, efficient soldiers. "Sir! The Hulk and Thor are in the shuttle levels 2, 3 and 4." An Agent shouted over the noise. Olivia cleanly slotted in another round of ammunition before peering up over an empty agents desk and efficiently shooting.

"Sir! The Hulk will tear this place apart!" Agent Hill replied.

Fury was caught between a rock and a hard place; "Get his attention now!" Through her earpiece Agent Hill started barking commands. The gunfire started to naturally deplete, but more of Barton's men continued to enter the room. Olivia frowned but cautiously reloaded the gun, Fury looked over at Olivia. "They're not getting through here, so what the hell…"

An arrow cleanly flew down into the bridge. "Only one man who can do that-" A multi-tipped arrow flew towards Fury, but instead hit just below a USB port. Without hesitation Olivia fired towards Barton, but he'd disappeared. "Little shi-" The multi-tipped arrow then self-activated and started inserting itself into the outlets, it started hacking every single main frame and monitor. Engine One then shut off, the entire Heli-carrier started to dangerously tilt to one side.

"Sire we've lost all power in Engine One."

"It's Barton. He took out our systems." Fury spoke and then into his earpiece. "He's headed for the detention level. Does anybody copy?"

"This is Agent Romanoff, I copy."

Olivia holstered her gun, before talking into her ear piece. "Stark! We're losing altitude."

"Yeah, noticed."

"Well could you do something about-" Olivia didn't finish her sentence. She was thrown off her feet and thrown down onto a lower level. With a clang Barton's boots hit the floor, he stood above her, gun in hand.

"Olivia? Are you ok? Copy Agent." Fury barked down the line.

Barton aimed his gun right for the spot in between Olivia's eyes. "Do it Barton. I dare you." She seethed.

"Agent! Do you copy?!"

Barton looked her straight in her pale grey eyes. "This." He spoke. "Will live with me for ever." His finger squeezed the trigger.

The bullet was released. It hit Olivia's right between her eyes.

The shot was heard through the comn's line. There was a silence.

Romanoff stopped. Her feet not budging from the catwalk she was on. Agent Maria Hill's mouth fell open, and looked towards Fury who simply closed his one eye and turned his head down to the floor. Steve was disbelieving. She was dead. She had to be. Stark had to keep moving, but inside the metal helmet of his, his eyes were wide. Jarvis repeating orders that were numb to Tony's ears.

An Avenger was dead.


	8. Chapter 8

Barton lowered the gun, and watched the deep, red blood ooze from the perfectly circular wound in Olivia's head. He shoved past the body of the fallen angel and carried on walking the Heli-carrier. The perfect aura of innocence around her was gone; all that surrounded her was the smell of death and corruption around her.

The fight happened around her. Coulson was killed by Loki. Steve and Tony finished the job on Engine One. The Heli-carrier was now in its rightful position. The carrier holding Barton's men had flown away only moments away, without Barton who was strapped down in a medical room. Banner, or the Hulk, had crashed down into Earth.

Her body was transported into a med-bay. A clean, white sheet pulled up and over her body. And silence invaded the space around her body; the silence was so pure and ever welcomed after the destruction and death that was present. Interestingly the hole around the wound started to get smaller, the bullet pushing itself back out of the hole it had formed. The bullet nosily hit the floor, and the wound in-between her eyes closed up. With a gasp of breath Olivia's eyes flew open. With a grunt she pulled herself up from the bed, throwing the sheet onto the floor. Her once perfect plimsolls were covered in her own blood. She felt the spot between her eyes. Good as new. She hobbled from the med-bay, through the almost destroyed Heli-carrier and towards the bridge. Her hands were shaking as her body struggled to regain the natural composition she had once possessed. Her hand slammed down and the bridge doors opened. With a wheeze she pulled herself through the door. Agent Hill stood up. Was she seeing a ghost?

"Sir."

Olivia opened one eyes groggily and tried to muster a cheerful wave.

"You." Fury looked at her. "Are meant to be dead." Fury squinted through his one good eye. "Please enlighten me to how you are alive."

"You got shot in the head." Hill breathed. "We watched it. I saw it happen."

Olivia frowned, "Why are you holding Coulson's jacket?" She asked settling herself down in a chair between Tony and Steve, both had the look of devastation on their faces. Steve looking at her completely shocked to see a dead woman walking.

"Coulson's dead."

Olivia looked at Steve, shaking her head. "Don't try and pull that one." She spoke and then looked at the Director. "He's not dead is he?"

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket." Fury spoke and Olivia put her head in her hands. "I guess you never did get round to signing them." He threw down Phil Coulson's vintage Captain America trading cards. Steve picked them up. They were stained with blood.

"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming." Fury told them. It was his typical Director's speech. There was a singular pause. "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called THE AVENGERS INITIATIVE. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes." Fury finished. Tony stood up, scraping the chair back. He left the room, not wanting to hear anything more. "Well it's an old fashioned notion."

"Is Barton here?" Olivia asked after a pause.

"Medical room." Fury told her. "I'd advise you not to."

Olivia turned to him, an unholy rage burning through. "I don't care what you advise me to do or not Director." She spat. "I can make my own decisions. I can decide whether I want, as you so tactfully put it, cloud someone's mind." She gestured to Steve carelessly. "Please do not make me do something I regret Fury."

She left the destroyed bridge and limped her way down to the Medical Rooms. She saw Natasha in a chair, talking to Clint. Olivia felt her forehead once more, before knocking on the door. "Come in!" Olivia opened the door. "Jesus. How are you alive?"

Olivia ignored Natasha's question and stared at Barton. "I mean I knew you had a grudge but the whole shooting me in the head thing, bit of an underhand tactic there Barton."

Clint raised a half-smile "Yeah wasn't my finest moment."

Olivia let out a breathy laugh. "Uh, I guess I'll leave you too it."

"Coulson's dead."

Olivia looked at Natasha. "I know." _And I think I know how to bring him back,_ Olivia thought. "See you later you two." It was a long shot, but it was worth it. "Fury." She spoke down her earpiece. "I need to speak to you." They met in a small room, looking like it was based for interrogation.

"What is so important that you pulled me away from doing my job?"

"I think I know how to get Coulson to live."

"He's dead," Fury raised one eyebrow. "Pleas enlighten me on how you are going to bring a dead man back to life."

"The same way I did." Olivia told him. "My cells, they just keep on regenerating. I'm immortal, Director. I can't be killed." She told him sternly. "Take some of my cells, and inject them into Coulson's body." Fury looked at her sceptically. "What harm could it do?" She asked. "Phil Coulson does not deserve to be dead. Of all people on this Earth." She stopped, her eyes were welling up. Such a human emotion. "Phil Coulson did not deserve this. He did not deserve to be so dishonoured."

Fury looked at her, "We'll try it." He finally spoke. "We don't know if it'll work."

"Just." Olivia looked at him. "Just trust me ok?"


	9. Chapter 9

"Where did he die?" Olivia's question sprung out of the blue and it his Fury like a ton of bricks.

"By the holding cells. Loki shot him." Fury supplied her with the information and she tore the blood pressure cuff from the top of her arm. "Are you certain about this?" Fury held a small vile full of Olivia's cells.

"Positive." Olivia told him as she got up from the chair, smiling in thanks to the medic who drew the cells from her body. She walked from the room, rubbing the spot where the needle had gone in. She walked towards the room where the large glass holding cells for Banner and herself were. Except Banners was gone. Thor having taken a trip down to Earth in it, courtesy of Loki.

"Was he married?" She paused at the doorway as she heard Steve talk.

"No, there was a cellist I think." Tony replied. Olivia emerged from the doorway and stood staring at them.

"I'm sorry." Steve told them both. "He seemed like a good man-"

"He was an idiot." Tony interrupted Steve casting Olivia a sparing glance. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"No." Olivia replied. "He was a good man, a man who though less about himself and more about other." She told Tony. "I think we should all take a leaf out of Phil's Coulson's book."

"He was an idiot." Tony repeated, not caring to listen to Olivia's opinion.

"Why?" Steve asked. "For believing?"

"For taking on Loki alone." Tony told them turning to look in between the pair.

Steve scoffed; "He was doing his job."

"He was out of his league. He should have waited." He paused. "He should've…" tony trailed off miserably.

Steve and Olivia made eye contact and Steve stepped forward. "Sometimes there isn't a way out Tony."

Tony sarcastically replied "Right and how did that work out for him?" He walked away, going to leave the room. Olivia stood in front of him, her eyes begging him to stay.

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" Steve asked.

In a rage Tony turned around. "We are not soldiers!" He yelled. "I am not marching to Fury's fife!"

"Neither are we!" Olivia defended looking at Tony who scoffed in return.

"Please you're like Fury's puppy dog, he calls and you go running. It's about time you learnt to stand on your own two feet." Tony snarled at her.

"Don't make this personal Tony." Olivia told him. "Don't let Phil's death make you turn on the ones who are helping you."

"He's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does." Steve interrupted. "Right now we've got to put that aside and get this done. Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list..."

Tony looked at the blood stained wall and then back to Olivia. "He made it personal."

"That's not the point." Steve told him.

"That is the point. That's Loki point. He hit us right where we live. But why?" Tony asked.

"To tear us apart." Olivia stated and Tony turned to look at her.

"He had to conquer his greed, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience." Tony told the pair.

"Right, we caught his act at Stuttengard." Steve replied.

Yeah. That's just a preview, this is the opening night. Loki's a full-tilt diva." Stark told them, pacing up and down as he spoke. "He wants flowers, he wants parades, and he wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered..." Stark trailed off, frowning. "Son of a bitch."

Olivia's frown deepened. "The tower." She breathed. "He's going to New York." She turned on the spot, running down the hallway. "We know what Loki's doing." She reported down the comms. "Steve get Nat." She told him.

"Roger that."

Olivia burst into the small bedroom, which was supposed to be hers while they were on the Heli-carrier. She threw off the stained plimsolls and fighting armour. She pulled on a black suit almost identical to Romanoff's except for the white edging. She pulled on the white trainers, and securely tied her long blonde hair up in a slick high ponytail.

"We already to go?"

Steve, Natasha, Olivia and Clint all met up swiftly after. The four walked towards the Quinjet and then into the large flying piece of metal. "Hey! You're not authorised to be in here." A young pilot frowned and them and stood up, his hand going to the comms piece in his ear.

"Son." Steve stated. "Just don't."

The Quinjet took off noisily and to their left Iron Man flew soundlessly ahead of them. The four looked on ahead of them. Not quit knowing what New York had in store for them.


End file.
